Shtetl Routes Tour 2018 - Ukraine
Visit: Lviv - Drohobych - Bolekhiv - Busk - Brody - Ternopil - Sataniv - Buchach - Chortkiv
“Grodzka Gate - NN Theatre” Centre and Rootka Tours invite you for a study tour to the former shtetls of nowadays Western Ukraine. Join us on a journey through the forgotten lands and learn more about Jewish cultural heritage in the small towns of the borderland area. The programme includes day trips to different shtetls, meetings with local experts, lectures, cultural events and many more.
UKRAINE (tour in English)
August 12-18, 2018
The programme will be led by Prof Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern. As a specialist in the Jewish history of Ukraine, Prof Petrovsky-Shtern will accompany the tour with lectures about the history of the land and its communities, offering a wider perspective to the tours.
Itinerary Highlights
August 12th, Lviv, Arrival in Lviv
Arrival in Lviv before 5 p.m., check-in, Premier Dnister Hotel
An introduction to the programme
A welcome dinner
Dnister Hotel, Lviv
August 13th, Drohobych – Bolehiv
Breakfast at the hotel
A full day programme in the region:
- Drohobych: Drohobych museum, the renewed great synagogue, the Bruno Schulz trail, the monument commemorating Jews executed in the Branicki forest
- Bolehiv – the synagogue and Jewish cemetery containing almost 3000 matzevot
Dinner
Dnister Hotel, Lviv
August 14th, Busk - Brody - Ternopil
Breakfast at the hotel
A full day programme:
- Busk: Jewish cemetery - considered the oldest Ashkenazi cemetery in Ukraine with matzevot from the 16th c. and a synagogue from the 19th century
- Brody - the remains of the Great Synagogue, the Jewish cemetery, the town centre and the Jewish district, the building of the Brody Gymnasium (attended by Joseph Roth)
Dinner
Halychyna Hotel, Ternopil
August 15th, Sataniv - Hrymailiv
Breakfast at the hotel
A full day programme:
- Sataniv: the Jewish cemetery on the bank of the Zbruch, the recently renovated 17th-century synagogue, ruins of the old city gate
- Hrymailiv: the ruins of an 18th-century synagogue
Afternoon: an optional walk around Ternopil with a local guide
Dinner
Optional lecture: The Policy of Memory of the Holocaust in Ukraine, Anatoly Podolsky (Ukrainian Centre for Holocaust Studies)
Halychyna Hotel, Ternopil
August 16th, Buchach - Chortkiv
Breakfast at the hotel
A full day program:
- Buchach: the city centre and rococo town hall, the castle ruins and the Jewish cemetery; the birthplace of Shmuel Yosef Agnon and Simon Wiesenthal; a meeting with the head of Art-Dvir, Buchach
- Chortkiv: the old synagogue (today a part of the Medical School), the New Synagogue (tzadik Moshe Friedman’s palace), the Jewish cemetery and the town centre
Dinner
Halychyna Hotel, Ternopil
August 17th, Lviv
Breakfast at the hotel
Transfer to Lviv (possible stop on the way on the site of the Yanovsky Camp)
Half a day programme:
- Lviv: the Rynok Square with the main historical sites of the old town, the Opera Theatre, the Catholic and the Armenian Cathedrals, the Jewish District including the new commemoration on the site of the former Golden Rose Synagogue
Shabbat dinner
Dnister Hotel, Lviv
August 18th, Lviv
Breakfast at the hotel
Half a day programme (walking tour)
- Lviv: Museum of Ethnography, The Suburban Jewish District and the former Hasidic Synagogue, the area of the former old Jewish cemetery (nowadays Krakivski market) and the building of the former Jewish hospital founded by Rappaport, the monument for the victims of the Jewish ghetto
Free afternoon
Dinner
Dnister Hotel, Lviv
August 19th, Departure
Breakfast at the hotel
Departure (possible transfer by bus to Warsaw)
Our tour expert is prof Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Crown Family Professor of Jewish Studies and a Professor of Jewish History in the History Department at Northwestern University (Chicago, USA). Prof Petrovsky-Shtern teaches a variety of courses, including early modern and modern Jewish History; Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah; history and culture of Ukraine; and Slavic-Jewish Literatures. He has published more than a hundred articles and six books, including The Golden-Age Shtetl: a New History of Jewish Life in East Europe, published in paperback by Princeton University Press, 2015, winner of the National Jewish Book Award.
The tour leader is Agata Radkowska-Parka, founder of ROOTKA Tours, an experienced organizer of dozens of study tours in Poland and Ukraine.
